Regardless of how one defines it, American evangelicalism is at a crossroads. The last quarter of the twentieth century was replete with signs of prosperity. Many churches, parachurch organizations, universities, and seminaries grew at unprecedented rates. Some analysts argued that the individuals populating those institutions were contributing to an intellectual renaissance. For example, in the…
Much has been written about evangelicalism and the scandalous or otherwise state of the evangelical mind from historical and theological perspectives.See, for example, Harriet A. Harris, Fundamentalism and Evangelicals, Oxford Theological Monographs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism, 1870–1925 (New York: Oxford University Press,…
Maureen Miner BridgesJuly 15, 2018
When reflecting on the past and future of the evangelical mind, we thought it fitting to hark back to a time not long after Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind was first published. I (Jack) remember as a young teenager visiting the Family Christian Bookstore on Cornerstone University’s campus to buy CDs; I…
Jack R. Baker and Jeffrey BilbroJuly 15, 2018
Zondervan, known for its Counterpoints Series, has released its most recent one, Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design, which updates and replaces Three Views on Creation and Evolution (1999). The format has been improved and a fourth view added, Intelligent Design. The volume reflects changes in the origins landscape with major scientific discoveries…
Carl SchultzApril 15, 2018
Nick Megoran’s Warlike Christians in an Age of Violence is a call for Evangelical Christians to lay down their arms. “Peace is not a marginal issue” for Evangelicals, Megoran contends, but is at the heart of what it means to be a “biblical gospel church.” Embracing peace “will allow us to practice and proclaim a…
Martin SpenceApril 15, 2018
Mark A. Peters is a professor of music at Trinity Christian College. In recent years, there has been an extended, and surprising, debate in this journal’s pages over Christian belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.The debate opened with Jack Mulder, Jr.’s article, “Why More Christians Should Believe in Mary’s Immaculate Conception” in 2012 (CSR…
Mark A. PetersApril 15, 2018
Although it is empirically established that traditional religion enhances fertility, how it increases childbearing is not clear. This paper is an exploratory qualitative study investigating how religion influences decisions about intended fertility and family size. Most specifically, Michael Emerson and George Yancey ask how, if at all, do the religious understand children and family differently.…
George Yancey and Michael O. EmersonApril 15, 2018
It is by now cliché to point out that contemporary culture is saturated with mediated images. Since Marshall McLuhan, it has also become increasingly commonplace to assume that this diverse profusion of images has replaced nature as the primary environment in which we live, move, and have our being. Such an overwhelming omnipresence of media…
Michael Van DykeApril 15, 2018
Jack Mulder Jr. is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Hope College. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis writes the following about controversies surrounding the Blessed Virgin Mary: ...there is no controversy between Christians which needs to be so delicately touched as this. The Roman Catholic beliefs on that subject…
Jack Mulder Jr.April 15, 2018
Not all historical fictions are created equal. Most valuable are those informed by years of study, research, and reflection which take seriously the history and context of ancient texts and their characters. In A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem, Ben Witherington III offers us just such a gem that presents lives of early Christians…
Viktor RoudkovskiApril 15, 2018
